Is affirmative action in college admissions fair?

 But first you gotta know what it means.

Affirmative action is the act of giving preferences to racial minorities or women. Affirmative action was introduced as a way of evening out the playing field by bringing more diversity on campuses.

But should colleges admit students based on gender and race or on academic merit alone?

Arguments in favor of Affirmative Action

• Affirmative action increases the admissions rates of minorities that are under-represented in American colleges.
• Affirmative action gives underprivileged students a chance by making up for existing social inequalities. For example, students from families where few have pursued higher education are less likely to do well in high school. Students who come from communities in which English is not their first language have poor English reading and writing skills and schools with lower funding tend to perform poorly on standardized tests. Affirmative action evens the score and gives these students the opportunities to succeed.
• Diversity increases learning. A lot of learning happens outside of textbooks and the classroom. Being exposed to students from different races and class backgrounds increases understanding and tolerance.

Arguments against Affirmative Action

• It’s unfair to judge applicants on anything other than their merits. Grades, test scores and extra-curricular activities should count, but race and gender shouldn’t, because they are out of your control.
• Lowering admissions standards for certain minority groups perpetuates stereotypes that members of those groups are less intelligent because it implies that nobody from these groups is smart enough to get into college on his or her own merits. This sort of stereotyping perpetuates the inequalities that affirmative action seeks to eliminate.

So these are some of the arguments for and against affirmative action. But we want to know what you think? Is affirmative action fair?